Rockstar: And Discovering You're Not One

By Wes Crenshaw

MUSIC! LIGHTS! SOUND! VIDEO!

When Worship All Comes Together, We Become A...

Rockstar

OR NOT...

What does it mean to be a worship leader?

Why is burnout so high with worship leaders and worship teams?

What does leading worship require, es

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leadership Books
• Release date: Jul 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781954618213

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Copyright © 2021 by Vide Press

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Vide Press

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Washington D.C. 20011

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New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Copyright ©1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA. All rights reserved. Used by Permission. www.lockman.org.

ISBN: 978-1-954618-20-6 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-954618-21-3 (ebook)

Printed in the United States of America

Cover and interior layout by Miblart.com

For my beautiful wife,

the one who knows my potential and

encouraged this feat. I love you.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One: ALL PATHS START SOMEWHERE

Chapter Two: THOSE WHO SURROUND YOU

Chapter Three: CALLINGS WITHIN OPPORTUNITIES

Chapter Four: REMINDERS FROM BREAD AND JUICE

Chapter Five: A QUICK TRIP TO MORDOR

Chapter Six: HERE I GO AGAIN ON MY OWN!

Chapter Seven: ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Chapter Eight: THE STRUGGLES BENEATH

Chapter Nine: HORSE PILLS: THE ART OF TAKING ONE

Chapter Ten: DIAMONDS IN ONE BIG ROUGH

Chapter Eleven: ON ______ THE SOLID ROCK I STAND

Chapter Twelve: THE WISEST OF BIBLE NOTES

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

Introduction

THIS BOOK WILL ANSWER A QUESTION

Why do so many young worship leaders turn over in ministry?

Now, I’ll do you a solid. Here’s the answer: they weren’t prepared for what ministry required of them. There you have it! Now you’re free to close the cover, it’s all over.

Just kidding.

I know in other instances it’s not as easy as a quick reply such as this, but if we’re honest, this is possibly the majority of young leaders who step away from the ministry after a short time or don’t pursue it at all. After Sunday services, when the lights come to a dim, soundboard shut off, and video cameras recapped and powered down, there’s no certainty of what happens next, other than rinse and repeat. But from the Monday through Friday in between, ministry can look very different.

So, let’s ask another question:

How do young worship leaders’ expectations of modern worship influence their careers?

Ah, there’s the question we’re after, but the answer requires more than a quick response and casual quip to provoke our wonderings. It’s no secret today that modern church culture is heavily influenced by worship music. It surrounds us from YouTube to the radio. It’s the way most churches in the national spotlight attain the attention they receive.

But it’s also no secret that this can create a sour impact on how young worship leaders expect their careers to blossom. So, you meet me at the trailhead of our journey together, a journey that will explore lessons and help answer this question; it will give insight into these career influencers. The answer might even help enlighten us to the in-depth solution—some instances require—to the first question I asked. How will we explore these questions? Through my story and everything I’ve learned from my years of ministry experience.

When I first had the idea to write a book, I really didn’t know what it would be about. Should it be more fiction-based? Maybe try to add different types of biblical analysis? While all these are great, it took a couple of iterations before I really began to discover the true purpose of this book.

For years I’ve been a searcher. I’ve searched for the better opportunity, the better fit, and the better church. Really, I’ve searched for answers, and yet, I always just expected them to come to me, because . . .

I’ve deserved it? No.

I’ve claimed it? No.

I don’t know why, but I struggled with the thought of it for so long. I’ve always loved writing—creative, long form, fiction, personal essay. You name it, I could write about it, but when it came to the idea of expressing my thoughts—telling my personal story—I wrestled with all types of contemplations.

Are my thoughts and insights really important?

Can someone actually learn something from this book?

What if all the observations I make lack truth? I don’t want to unintentionally steer someone on a misguided path.

But something is happening in our churches—something big. Worship music is becoming the most visible/first outward face of churches across our country. Worship leaders are beginning to resemble the newest primary influence modern worshipers flock to. In some cases, this is good. In others—well, not so much.

So, this book is primarily intended for the church worship leader, but it can benefit the average reader and congregational worshiper as well. It strives to be honest and offers a realistic look at what the process of becoming a worship leader is like.

So, I’ll clear the air right here in this introduction. My specific experiences as a church worship leader have given me valuable understanding I think all worship leaders can benefit from, because—if you’re like me—you’ve gone into this career with your own idea of what leading church worship entails, and yet, have discovered it to be something very different. With that in mind, I have learned this:

WE ARE NOT ROCKSTARS

Oh . . .

Yep, though this might come as a shock, worship ministry doesn’t come with fame and fortune guaranteed. There are no million-dollar salaries, and we certainly don’t get that Mercedes-Benz Janis Joplin sung so highly about—at least, unless it’s about twenty years old. No, in the church, there isn’t anything we can do to award the Rockstar title before our name.

My story is cliché. At times it’s certainly felt meaningless, and now it may also be exactly what someone else needs to hear; it matters, and it’s my experience.

My story is not only one of self-discovery, but also of discovering the purpose of my career. If you’re reading this now—someone intrigued with and interested in leading worship—this story may just be what you need to hear. Just know, I’m not going to whip you with a guitar cable if you don’t accept my words as gospel.

You’re more than welcome to disagree with me.

This is a story that reflects on where worship music is at, and how I arrived to where I am. It’s about early mistakes I made and what I learned from them. And this story looks to the future and how we as worship leaders can move forward with our leadership in the church. It talks about our focus, and how that applies to worshipful leading. And, most importantly, it’s a story about people, and how God used—and still uses—them to mold and shape me into more of a worship leader and pastor, less a performer.

Every Rockstar has a story, too. If the term Rockstar wasn’t quite as taboo to use within church walls, I can think of so many people I’d give that honorary title: people with whom I’ve worked; people who have volunteered with me; the amazing woman I’m married to. No, as average individuals, the fame and fortune, cars, houses, and recognition don’t usually come our way. Instead, we learn to trust in God’s faithfulness. So, I encourage you to keep reading. You never know how God might change you.

ALL PATHS START SOMEWHERE

LIFE TEACHES US A VITAL LESSON : few people in this world arrive at their current state by simple existence. Commitment to a path in life is necessary to arrive where they desire to be. The challenge is that life offers many paths and choices, all leading in different directions; and then knowing which path is best to walk. Though the majority of people’s paths are different and land them in different places, we all share this common knowledge: at some point, we were not known to the world. Even celebrities and Rockstars once stood in front of a mirror and gazed upon the innocence of a child staring back.

Life teaches us another vital lesson: our beginnings don’t have to define us. They’re influencers. They lean against our choices as we grow, attempting to steer our path. And though our beginnings are beyond our control—many unfair and undeserved—it isn’t our beginnings that mold and shape us. Our decisions do, where we walk our path. Experience will be, and always will be, the greatest teacher. It’s a difficult tutor, and it loves to write its lessons in red ink.

If you were to look at me today, little of what you see would scream small-town country boy beginnings, but that’s exactly how it was.

I grew up in the upstate mountains of South Carolina. I like to call our little Appalachian plot of acreage a Cheers town—the type of place where everyone knows your name. Granted, with each passing year it looks more and more like a Bluetooth device; a lot of outsiders are beginning to discover it.

This small town is a potpourri of people, all ethnicities and backgrounds; a portrait of varying hues applied to the same canvas of southern drawls. Men in camouflage jackets and dirty jeans drive the same trucks as men in business attire. They park their four-by-fours in lots for offices while the others tow trailers into hay fields and old dilapidated barns. Every neck glistens red in the sunlight and their stiff collars stand blue and proud. Everyone wears their level of country, unashamedly, upon their sleeves and are some of the friendliest people you could meet.

In some unusual way we were all kin. Relatability wasn’t a foreign concept. It was visibly evident how deep family roots intertwined into the earth. All you had to do was attend any family reunion.

This was—and still is—the type of town with a church on every corner. Like our fast-food restaurants, this country community has a church for every brand of belief, an option for every denomination, and multiple offerings of each in case the specific flavor isn’t to someone’s liking.

Living here offered a quaint lifestyle, quiet and peaceful, but by the time I entered high school, I quickly realized my desire to move away from my small-town beginnings and start my own life. To say this thought consumed me was an understatement. I grew anxious with the ambition to prove my worth and show the world what I could offer.

I’ve been blessed with musical abilities that give me a unique, almost unmatchable, gift for this little town. But hiding beneath it all, within the roots and rocks of ivy-laden creekside banks, was a classic saying that always resonated within me:

You’re a big fish in a small pond.

Maybe this sounds conceited, but everyone my age was skilled in their own way. Some were intellects in various subjects, others gifted athletes. Still others were recognized for their artistic eye, and yet a few chose to live simple lives. But if it was music, I excelled. All that stood in my way was the path to leave the echoes of bluegrass against the hillsides behind me.

I grew up in the local First Baptist Church. It was practically my second home. Here, I fell in love with music, but not just any music. Rock music. Christian rock music—no, I dared not in church. It had nothing to do with the rebellious nature of the sound, but it was my source of connection and escape. I spent most of my time after school watching a local television network out of western North Carolina. They produced a regional show featuring new artists and a Top 10 countdown to the best CCM music videos of the week. Think of it as a low-budget Christian MTV. That’s where I discovered most of my favorite bands at the time.

I unearthed my love for music in the church and served within it. For years, I sat in pews as a child, and in an orchestral chair as a teen, listening to my mother play piano, keyboards, and lead the church orchestra. My dad sang bass in the choir—they both still serve today—and has a devoted love for the Gaither Vocal Band. It was hard to miss. Almost every CD tucked away in his old Dodge pickup was a GVB disc. Though it isn’t my preferred cup of tea, I can appreciate the soaring vocals of David Phelps and Guy Penrod.

Music surrounded me. It was in my blood. It was my beginning, and God used it to eventually teach me how He had wired me to do what I never